At any of the city’s entrepreneurial events, you’re likely to hear the refrain “I’m just looking for a technical co-founder” or “I could really use some sales and marketing help.” Fitting into the common startup template of one “technical” co-founder and one “business” co-founder is often one of the hardest parts of starting a company.
After witnessing years of co-founder conversations, D.C.-based entrepreneur Culin Tate created “Co-Founders Wanted” a social meet up with the goal of connecting aspiring entrepreneurs to work on the next big thing. And he needs help bringing the event to Philly.
“We wanted to be the E-Harmony more than the Match.com,” he says. “We want to take a deeper dive. What are our work styles? What are our work ethics? Backgrounds?”
After the event’s first versions in Rockville, Maryland and Frederick, Virginia, Tate has brought CFW to King of Prussia and says he would like to hold the meetup in Center City if someone would volunteer a venue. For now, Tate drives from D.C. once a month to oversee the King of Prussia edition. Typically, he says, the meet up will average 20 attendees.
CO-FOUNDERS LAB
Before long, Tate noticed that the perfect match for a co-founder was often in another city.
“There were ships passing in the night, the perfect co-founder for one startup may have come the night before in a different town,” he says.
To solve the problem, Tate created Co-Founders Lab, an online version of the meet up. He hopes the site can be used at events like Startup Weekend to match like-minded attendees before they even step foot into the venue.
“We eventually want that McDonalds sign,” he says. “A thousand businesses built.”
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